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[Click here to view the members of the Coalition to Protect Massachusetts Patients]

Legislature & Public Reaffirm Their Support for Patient Safety/Safe RN Staffing Bill

Majorities in both branches support bill setting minimum RN-to-patient ratios

In the wake of extensive medical research and scientific evidence identifying the impact that registered nurse staffing levels have on patient outcomes, majorities in both branches of the Massachusetts Senate and House have re-affirmed their support for passage of patient safety legislation setting minimum registered nurse-to-patient ratios in hospitals.

"There is a growing momentum to address this important patient safety issue", said Representative Christine Canavan, RN, lead sponsor of the bill. "Studies by the nation’s most respected scientific and medical researchers affirm the significance of safe minimum RN-topatient ratios for patient safety—the time has come to pass this bill."

As the bill filing deadline for the 2005-06 session arrived 104 legislators, majorities in both branches, had signed onto the Patient Safety Act (lead sponsors Representative Christine Canavan and Senator Marc Pacheco). The bill was passed by the Health Care Committee last year, a pilot program was included in the FY ’05 Senate budget, and the House Ways and Means Committee has created a subcommittee to move the issue forward.

The importance of the Legislature’s efforts to address this patient safety issue was made clear in a recent survey of recently hospitalized patients conducted by the National Consumers League, which found:

• Almost half the people (45 percent) who have had direct hospital experience believe that their safety or the safety of their immediate family member(s) was—to some extent—compromised by a lack of available nurses.
• More than one third of people with direct hospital experience reported not receiving important elements of care in a timely fashion.
• Forty-one percent of people with direct hospital experience reported not receiving answers to their questions about the illness. One third reported not receiving adequate information about care prior to being released from the hospital.
• More than three quarters (78 percent) of respondents indicated their support for legislative action to ensure an adequate RN-to-patient ratio.

Last year, a survey of Massachusetts voters conducted by Opinion Dynamics Corp. of Cambridge found more than 80 percent in favor of legislation to establish RN-to-patient ratios. An earlier poll of Massachusetts nurses, nearly 70 percent of whom were not MNA members, found that 87 percent of the state’s nurses supported legislation to regulate RN-to-patient ratios.

The Massachusetts Nurses Association, along with 70 leading health care and consumer organizations, last year formed the Coalition to Protect Massachusetts Patients, which has been advocating for the passage of the bill. The coalition includes the American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Health Care for All, League of Women Voters, the Mass. Senior Action Council and Mass. Association of Older Americans. The complete listing of organizations supporting this bill can be found below.

Safe RN Staffing legislation has won broad public support and the endorsement of the state’s most influential health care and consumer advocacy groups.

[Click here to view the members of the Coalition to Protect Massachusetts Patients]